In the Colonial days, their law enforcement would use strict punishment as a way of deterring others from also committing crimes. At that time in our country people were hung, whipped or even had their hands cut off if you stole or committed any other crime. During the 1900's within the United States of America, we started to notice that just by punishing criminals was not stopping the crime from happening. We needed to turn around and start rehabilitating these criminals. During the late 1970's to the early 1980's our society and the politicians began to think that the criminal justice system was failing once again and had become way to soft and kind to the criminals and their behavior. As a part of our society, we all have the right to expect and know that a criminal will be punished in an effective and proper manner. We also have the right to know that these criminals will be rehabilitated so they will not continue to commit crimes once they are released. Rehabilitation is now starting to fully come to a complete circle within the United States of America. When you combined both rehabilitation and punishment together the outcome for criminals becomes better than if they had just received one of those options. .
When a criminal is sentenced to prison without any rehabilitation the recidivism rate will continue to be on the high side. This is not saying that these criminals should not have to face any consequences if they broke a law, instead this is saying that once a criminal commits a crime and is arrested, they should also receive the rehabilitation they need. This will help them in lowering the recidivism rate. If society were to just lock up these criminals, even non-violent criminals and just forget about them, they would become very angry and possible become violent. "Upon reentering society, former offenders are likely to struggle with substance abuse, lack of adequate education and job skills, limited housing options, and mental health issues"(National Institute of Justice, 2013, para.
